The Truth of the Killing
by Sapphyre Lily
Summary: The real reason why they say Takeru killed a goddess. What if Takeru was telling the truth, and he really didn't kill the goddess?


**Author's note: Really, I should have been writing for one of my uncompleted stories, but here I am writing for KamiAso. This was a story I wrote because I didn't like how Broccoli made Takeru the one who killed a goddess. This is my reasoning as to why they say Takeru killed a goddess, when in the myths, it was Tsukuyomi who killed her. I hope this makes sense to you, cos at certain parts, it didn't make sense to me lol.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Kamigami no Asobi.**

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This is the story of how the moon and the sun came to be in different parts of the sky.

It happened when they were very young.

It was well known that Tsukito - or Tsukuyomi, as he was known then - was born of the washing of Izanagi's right eye, just like how Akira and Takeru - Amaterasu and Susanoo - were born of Izanagi's washing of his left eye and nose, respectively.

Yet somehow, instead of springing out as fully formed gods, they had started out as adolescents, babies, almost. The existing community of gods took it upon themselves to raise the children, for it was decreed that they would rule the heavens someday.

Well, not all of them. Amaterasu was to rule the heavens with Tsukuyomi, even as they ruled the sun and moon respectively. Susanoo, reckless and brash as he was, was given the sea and storms. This did not sit well with Susanoo. After all, weren't they all brothers? Why would he be given a lesser role, and no place in heaven to top it off?

To defy Izanagi, who was the one who decreed such a thing, he became even more rebellious. No one could control him, or stand to be in his presence, save one goddess.

Uke Mochi was the goddess of food, and the unique way in which she produced it gave Susanoo great delight. He thought that it was amazing how she could cause food to appear from her body parts, and one day, he called on Amaterasu to witness it as well.

Now, Amaterasu was highly intolerant of his youngest brother. He thought Susanoo was being unnecessarily uncultured when he did not follow the advice of the older deities, not to mention his uncouth nature was extremely displeasing. As such, when he received that invitation from Susanoo, he refused to budge, and sent Tsukuyomi in his stead. (It went without saying that he was sure Susanoo invited him only to pull a prank on him, and he was in no mood to deal with that.)

Susanoo honestly did not mind that it was Tsukuyomi who came to the feast. His second brother was usually stoic, but relatively tolerant of his antics, and they got along much better than he did with Amaterasu.

This time, however, Tsukuyomi did not quite agree with Susanoo's idea of amusement.

When he discovered the manner in which Uke Mochi produced her most delicious food, he was thoroughly disgusted, though he would not mention it to Susanoo. He merely tightened his lips and nodded, and Susanoo was none the wiser.

Yet, even after they parted, that awful knowledge of how such wonderful delicacies ended up on his plate plagued him, and he could not bear the thought of others suffering as he did.

He hatched a plan to rid themselves of the food goddess, and the awful way she produced sustenance for their fellow deities. The conditions had to be just right, or nothing would fit into his blueprints, not to mention that Amaterasu would be angry with him as well.

It was a dark, overcast day when Tsukuyomi put his plan into action.

Susanoo was angry again, and the seas churned with the power of his rage. The wind buffeted anyone who dared to step out of shelter, the unseen force forming a protective cocoon around the enraged sea god.

Uke Mochi was the only one out in the storm, trying to bring young Susanoo back to his senses and calm the whirlpool of anger.

It was the perfect chance.

They were close to the cliffs, the nearest path to the sea. It was the most obvious route to follow, for Susanoo often went by that path to calm down. Unfortunately, it was also the narrowest route, and the most dangerous.

The wind and rain made it difficult to see, and though Susanoo repeatedly yelled for Uke Mochi to leave him alone, she refused to stand down.

"The rocks are weak! You won't survive if you fall!" Susanoo screamed, holding her at bay with a wall of wind.

"Come back into shelter, Susanoo-kun! Please!" The wind muffled her voice, and whipped her long sleeves into her face such that she couldn't see where she was going.

Suddenly, a little white ball rolled into her path, and she tripped. Her skirt got tangled up in her legs, and she tilted to the side as if in slow motion, the softened rock crumbling under her feet.

"No!"

Susanoo let the wind drop as he rushed forward to look over the cliff, an arm stretched out to the falling goddess. Her face was almost peaceful as she toppled into the churning sea, a small smile directed at him. It was as if she was trying to tell him "It's alright" one last time.

Then her body hit the water and disappeared under the waves.

Susanoo howled as he tried to wrest the sea back under his command, tried to pull the waves back into submission to retrieve her body. But because of his aggravated state of mind, the waves only grew higher and the wind blew more harshly, churning out a typhoon.

Susanoo clawed at the ground beneath him, raking up the sparse vegetation. A blob of white caught his attention, and he dived for it, recognising it as the object that made Uke Mochi trip.

His fingers nested in soft fur, and as he pulled it closer to his body, he realised it was a small rabbit.

The rabbit looked at him with wide eyes as he tightened his fingers around its neck. Susanoo brought his face closer to the animal's, growling under his breath, "You. If it wasn't for you, Uke Mochi-san would still be alive. I should kill you, you meddling little creature."

The rabbit let out a series of high-pitched whines, wriggling to get free. Susanoo's fingers only tightened further, and he could feel the bones of its neck. One little snap, and the rabbit would be dead.

"Susanoo."

Tsukuyomi's emotionless voice cut through the sound of the wind, and he flicked a dismissive glance at him.

"Anii."

"What are you doing with my familiar?"

"Oh, he's yours? He killed Uke Mochi-san." Susanoo looked up to meet Tsukuyomi's eyes, his own golden orbs shining with bitter tears. "If it weren't for him, Uke Mochi-san wouldn't have tripped and fallen over the cliff!"

"Susanoo, listen to yourself." Tsukuyomi's voice was neutral, his eyes flat. "Would Uke Mochi have tripped if she wasn't out here in the storm in the first place?"

Susanoo's fingers curled more tightly around the familiar. "That doesn't make it any less its fault!"

"The other gods won't see it that way. They would punish you for killing my familiar as well, if you don't release it."

Susanoo opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of harried voices and feet slapping the wet earth.

"No, no!"

"You killed Uke Mochi, after she had shown you such kindness? Ungrateful brat!"

"Banish him! He's too dangerous! A liability!"

"It was an accident!" Susanoo screamed, his loud voice cutting through the angry buzz. His attention was focused on them now, his argument with Tsukuyomi forgotten. The gods had gathered in a circle around him and the moon god, their faces pinched and angry. The fierce wind started up around them again, beating at their clothes wildly. "She tripped and fell over!"

"That thing in his arms! That must have been what he used to make her fall off the cliff! Accident indeed!"

"He probably just pushed her off and is blaming the thing. Why else would he be clutching it so tightly?"

"Yeah! He pushed her off! Murderer!"

"Call Izanagi! We should banish him!"

"Banish him!"

The cries for banishment and vengeance grew louder, and Susanoo hugged the rabbit to his chest, screaming back at them. The waves and the wind grew stronger, fuelled by his rage and sense of injustice.

Tsukuyomi saw his chance, and took a few steps closer to Susanoo, one hand stretched out to him. His face was as impassive as ever, and somehow, his calm voice carried over the shrieking wind.

"Susanoo. Leave them and their comments be. Calm yourself, or we'll all fall into the sea. You may be the sea god, but if you fall in now, you will surely die."

Susanoo shook his head vehemently, his blue locks slapping against his face. "Leave me alone, Anii! Maybe I should die, then everyone else would be happy, isn't it? He-hey! Oi, let me go!"

Tsukuyomi's hands were on his shoulders, pulling him away from the lip of the cliff. His face was pulled forward and buried in the soft folds of the moon god's robe, muffling his protests. Tsukuyomi's voice sounded in his ear as one hand wrapped around his shoulders and the other nested in his hair.

"Pretend. If you say anything more to them, they will only curse you and will surely banish you. Scream and howl all you want, but follow my lead and I'll get us out of this."

Susanoo was only too happy to comply. The emotions swirled about inside him, a wild force aching to be released. Allowing the dam to break, he thrashed in Tsukuyomi's grip, crying and screaming for freedom. He barely felt the moment they sank to the ground as his emotions poured out in force, the storm heightening about them. Everything else fell away, and he didn't even notice the other gods looking at them with mistrust in their eyes.

It took a while for Susanoo's rage and sorrow to bleed out of him, and he immediately fell into an exhausted slumber, still curled up against Tsukuyomi's chest. One of the braver gods strode forward and took the sea god from Tsukuyomi, patting him on the shoulder as he did so. The storm was beginning to die down without Susanoo's emotion to fuel it, and Tsukuyomi had to strain to hear what the god said as he turned away.

The moon god simply nodded and remained sitting in the mud, stroking the rabbit that had been released from Susanoo's grip when he fell asleep. He remained there, even as the rest of the gods trickled away, staring out at the ocean and the cliff where Uke Mochi had fallen from.

The rain had slowed to a soft drizzle when he heard footsteps sloshing towards him, and felt the warmth of the clothes drying on his back. He spoke without turning around, already aware of who it was.

"What is it, Amaterasu?"

"You know what it is, Tsukuyomi." His older brother's voice was cold, and he shivered. "I saw what you did. As loath as I am to admit it, Uke Mochi's death was not Susanoo's fault, but yours."

"What makes you think so?" Tsukuyomi's voice was empty of emotion, as if he were stating a fact instead of asking a question.

"That familiar you hold, it ran into Uke Mochi's path on purpose. It wasn't there until they reached the cliff. I _saw_ you summon it from a charm. You plotted this." His voice was high and accusatory. "You planned to kill Uke Mochi."

"And what of it?" There was the tiniest edge in Tsukuyomi's voice. The words continued to pour from him, uncaring now that he spoke to someone who knew the truth. "Have you seen the way food appears from her vomit? It is absolutely disgusting! And how about the other delicacies she casually pulls from her genitals, and her anus? Look me in the eye and tell me you are not repulsed, Amaterasu."

He spared a glance at the sun god, long enough to see the colour drain from his face. Amaterasu took a few deep breaths before speaking in a terse voice.

"That may be the case, but you are not entitled to kill somebody just because you don't like the manner in which they do things. You are worse than Susanoo if you think you can get away with this."

Tsukuyomi snorted softly. "I already did. The deed has been carried out, and it can't be undone. What can you do, Amaterasu, that would make the other gods believe your word? It's you against their hate for Susanoo, and I think we know which is stronger."

The sun god was silent for several more moments. When he spoke, his voice was dead. "You're right, there's nothing I can do to convince them that it was you who killed Uke Mochi. However," he glared at Tsukuyomi, "There _is_ something that only I can do."

Tsukuyomi barely had the time to take a breath before Amaterasu began intoning something in a faraway, echoing tone.

"From this day forth, Tsukuyomi, you are barred from Heaven's gates. Retreat to the moon of which you rule, and never again appear in my presence." Tsukuyomi stared, open-mouthed, ready to protest. Before he could do so, Amaterasu had already spoken the final words.

"This is my decree, and it shall be so."

Tsukuyomi couldn't feel it, but he knew that there was now a protective barrier around the Heavenly Palace, and that if he dared to enter without permission, it could very well kill him.

He couldn't believe that Amaterasu would have taken such drastic measures.

With a dry throat, all that he could ask was, "Why?"

"I do not tolerate murderers in my domain." Amaterasu shrugged, and began to turn away. "Be grateful that is all I am going to do."

"Will you not tell the other gods then?"

Amaterasu paused, then threw a distasteful look over his shoulder. "No need to. You are correct that they will never believe me. As far as anyone else is concerned, Susanoo is the one who killed Uke Mochi. I think he is beginning to believe that it is his fault as well. But between you and me, who know the truth, this is your eternal punishment. I never want to stand in the same room as you, and I never want to see you again."

Turning his face to the sky, a lone beam of light broke through the dark clouds and lit up his slight figure. Tsukuyomi bit down on his trembling lip, the cruelty of Amaterasu's words sinking into his heart. After a moment, his older brother began walking away, and one last decree travelled back to him on the wind.

"From this day forth, the Sun and the Moon will never again stand on the same span of sky at the same time.

"Goodbye, brother."


End file.
